Cheap drill bits are a false economy. Last weekend I wasted a couple of hours attempting to drill through the cycle wing brackets with limited success. Onto Amazon for a next day delivery of a couple of
cobalt drill bits (as used for the chassis panelling but 5.5mm rather than 4) and the 6 remaining holes took no more than 15 minutes! They were then bolted back on, the wheel removed and some holes drilled through the taped in place wings after adding a strip of foam cushioning. Some people use bonded in bolts to avoid having visible bolt heads, but I decided that it would be more important to have confidence they're not about to fall off. To reduce the risk of cracking of the wings I used some slightly bigger washers:
Fitting the nearside wing will have to wait as I noticed the powdercoating was loose around the mounting holes on the bracket and scratching it away revealed some rust. A quick coat of Hammerite will sort it, its just a bit annoying not to be able to finish the job.
Not disheartened though, I decided to fit the exhaust heat shield - as much as to get the parts out of the way as anything.... and it seemed like a nice simple yet highly visible job. And so it turned out to be - just a case of opening up the two huge jubilee clips, feeding them through two channels on the inside of the heat shield and fastening the clips up again.
Note the absence of the scuttle in this picture - its still on the bench awaiting fitment of the wiper motor. More on that soon I hope.
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